I think the fact in particular he has a one-handed backhand is really useful for career longevity - the amount of torque his spine and knees are exposed to is a lot less than a player that uses a two-handed backhand given the body rotations each shot required. Additionally, early in Federer's career courts were generally softer (that's what caused bounces to be lower - elasticity differences) which had two effects: matches are quicker because without shots bouncing so high it is easier to make winners the opponent can't return, and it does less damage to the joints. These factors together mean he's preserved relatively well, in a way I simply don't think, say, Djokovic or Murray will.
Maybe so for the backhand part, then again Agassi or Connors had crazy longevity too, and they both had two handed backhands. I think it has more to do with the general technique of Federer, which is pretty much what you strive for when you play tennis : not muscle your way through the ball but playing relaxed. Puts less stress on the body and makes the ball go faster.
The court argument can be made but it's not so clear either : players from this era weren't particularly less injury prone.
The second is that strategically, Federer has retooled his game a lot. His serve is probably better now than it has been at any other time in his career - better than it was in 2006 and 2007, even. That's not down to additional power, but placement. Federer's serve placement is incredibly good and has really helped him hold serve now that the rest of his game has faded a little. Similarly, he's incorporated a lot more serve and volley into his game, and makes a conscious attempt to end points much earlier. That's something new - if you look at Federer's career, traditionally serve and volley is the style he suffers against most and has struggled with aside from Nadal's almost unique style. Federer made his breakthrough relatively late due to the predominance of serve and volley in his very early career, and had long losing streaks against S&V players like Henman. However, later in his career, he's incorporated S&V himself in an attempt to increase career length.
Federer is definitely more agressive these days, but he's always had a short rally strategy throughout his career. He was more precise in his baseline play and had more stamina when he was in his 20's, but the key to his success has always been playing well and fast. So I agree his playstyle evolution played a role, but really he's now capitalizing on his whole "career behaviour", not just the last two or 3 years.
And even if it's not really relevant to the debate, I'm not sure I agree with the serve and volley cryptonite argument, which I've seen you mention before. What are your examples besides Henman (not mentioning that Fed completely reversed the H2H later) ? Early 2000's weren't exactly a serve and volley era. I'd argue that Federer has suffered a lot more against the new generation of ultra-fit defensers like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray who have won countless matches by making him play longer rallies, outside of his comfort zone.
The third is luck, and that has played a fair part. It's not so long since the end of 2013 when we were bemoaning Federer's slide down the rankings and his brief drop to no.7 in the world. Part of his "recovery" since then his really been attributable to decline in other players - particularly Murray due to back surgery, Nadal due to general fitness break-down, Wawrinka due to his inability to cope with the pressure after becoming a Slam champion, and Ferrer's decline due to his life outside tennis. I think if none of those things had had such a big effect on those players, we might still be talking about Federer as a player hovering just outside the top 5.
Things happen to everyone. That's why staying at the top for years is hard, and few achieve it.
The fact that Federer is, nowadays, more physically fit than adversaries who are 6 years younger is pretty significant. Part of it is luck, but part of it isn't. At all.
serena's look is better, as usual
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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/OSBkqUC.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3Wld10W.jpg[/IMG]
I actually prefer this outfit too, I think.
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